The liquid breaks down, the proteins fall out, the hop character goes away and the beer tastes stale, oxidized, and musty.

While we all know that some beers such as barley wines and strong ales can be laid down for extended periods and actually improve with age, this is not the case with many other beers. Some craft beer has been known to get lost on the shelf for ages. First – and probably most common – is that the beer is just plain old.

Bottle-conditioned beers can be quite good and the yeast is a part of the experience. It’s not bad and doesn’t affect the flavor. This yeast will settle to the bottom of the bottle but will become “floaters” when the beer is agitated or moved – like when you are pouring it or drinking it. However, there will also be yeast in the bottle, some of which was left there and some that was generated by the fermentation. Either way, the result is a mild fermentation taking place in the enclosed bottle which creates a natural carbonation and a small increase in the alcohol content. Sometimes the bottle will be filled with beer that is still fermenting. Bottle conditioning is a deliberate process whereby a small amount of active yeast and sometimes a bit of fermentable material such as maltose or some other type of sugar is added to the bottle prior to capping it. The good: The beer has been bottle-conditioned. I like to think of them as the good, the bad, the very bad, and the ugly. There are different types of ‘floaties’ caused by different things.

Bob Brewer answers your questions about the world of beer and brewing.īryan (via Facebook): Bob, could you please address beer ‘floaties’ – the particles sometimes hanging out in the bottles of craft beers?īob: Good one, Bryan.

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